Counting The Last Grains of The Year
by theSkiesDivide
Summary: When you end the year, what do you expect? Fireworks? Duh. Alcohol? Maybe a little. Banners and tarps? Sure. However, with Percy and Annabeth, you'd never know what could happen. So, what happens when Christmas makes a little appearance to end the year?


**Hello my little weirdos :D Here's ONE of the Holiday Fics I said I would post :) I hope you like it, but I think it's a little short and...not so detailed...? But yeah, please REVIEW or FAVORITE and... yeah :D I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: I DO NOT OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BOOK SERIES! Happy now, Annabeth?**  
**Annabeth: No, you forgot something**  
**Me: O_O What now?!**  
**Annabeth: Who _owns _the series?**  
**Me: *sighs* The almighty Rick Riordan does**

**So to summarize things, I DO NOT OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BOOK SERIES AND RICK RIORDAN OWNS IT! There :D**

* * *

"I hate kitchen duty." Annabeth grumbles.

"Why? Is it because the lava burns your beautiful blonde eyebrows?" Percy says snidely as he crystallizes the molten hot liquid and scrapes off the remains.

Annabeth stops scrubbing. "Oh, so now my eyebrows are beautiful?" she looks at Percy with a raised brow. His cheeks turn a small shade of pink and he goes back to scraping off the rocks that stuck to the silverware.

She huffs. "As if _you_ don't hate it, Seaweed Brain."

"What? Your eyebrows?" he replies densely. She elbows him in the ribs and resumes kitchen duty.

"No, Kelp Face, I meant kitchen duty." she says with a small smile.

"Oh, then, well, not really." he says simply. Annabeth looks at him, shocked.

"How can you _not _hate kitchen duty?" she says, scrubbing of the frozen rocks on a goblet.

Percy snorts and looks at her, "Because it gives me an excuse to use my freakishly awesome water powers." he says with a smirk.

Annabeth sends him a glare. "Do you _want _me to burn your face to a crisp?" she threatens and holds up a gloved hand with molten hot lava seeping through her fingers.

He looks down at her lava filled hands and his throat tightens just a bit.

"No," he mumbles with a tiny voice.

Annabeth smirks and decides to taunt him a little more. She takes a spoon from the pile of unwashed silverware and spoons a small amount of lava. With the spoon in her hand, she holds it up to Percy's face, making him cross-eyed from staring at it.

"Open up, Percy." she coos at him. Beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead and he can practically _feel _the lava on his skin.

Then, he smirks. Annabeth realizes her plan is failing bit by bit, however, she isn't able to react fast enough.

A blast of cold air hits her in the face, making her land on her butt staring flabbergasted at the son of Poseidon.

A smug grin in plastered on his face and for once, she allows his ego to rise. But she just can't help having a slight urge to wipe that grin off his cute little face.

She looks dumbfounded at the spoon, which is now accumulated by a chunk of rock. Her lips pursed and she raises an eyebrow. Just to test, she starts banging the piece of silver on the counter.

"What are you–?" Percy questions with a quirked up brow.

"Whoa, that's really stuck. I forgot you could control water vapor." Annabeth confesses under her breath.

He shoots her a self-satisfied look, probably indicating that his ego is just blowing off the roof and goes back to scrubbing off the last bits of rock on his pile of dirty plates and goblets.

Annabeth had already finished by the time Percy was done and pulled off her scrubs. He followed suit and left the rubbery pair of gloves on the counter.

"What time is it?" Percy asks as he matches his stride with hers.

He picks up his jacket from the hanger beside the exit and slides his arms in through the sleeves. Annabeth unties her sweater from her waist and does the same.

"It should be a little bit past curfew, maybe 11:15 or something." she indicates, looking at the moon's faded appearance behind the clouds.

They walk out of the kitchen doors, only to have an incredible gust of wind and a heap of snow greet them.

Percy gawks at the thick white blanket of snow and Annabeth glares at the blanket menacingly. How dare the cold weather betray her choice of clothing?

Without any hesitation, Annabeth grips Percy's sleeved wrist and drags him through the thick layers of ice crystals on the supposed-to-be-grass-covered ground.

Their little hike stops short just before they reach the cabins. Annabeth can feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand and she strains her ears to hear the little conversation their visitors were taking up.

In her peripheral vision, she can see two harpies attempting–badly for that matter–to conceal themselves from their demigod dinner.

"You see those two demigods over there?" one says–or well, squawks.

"I'm not blind, dammit." the other retorts.

"Then you do know. _They _will be our little late night snack for today." the first one explains.

"But I'm not hungry. Can't we do this tomorrow?" the other one whines.

"No! We need to do this _now _so that we won't go looking for breakfast tomorrow."

_Are they stuffing us in a fridge? _Annabeth manages to think.

"But you just said that they'd be our late night snack for _today_?" the other one points out stupidly.

Annabeth rolls her eyes, thinks quickly and starts walking casually, with her hand still gripping Percy's wrist, steering towards the nearest destination, the Big House.

They keep walking, trying not to notice the two harpies looking around for their upcoming supper, and Annabeth's hand is still clutching Percy's wrist. However, albeit her grasp isn't as tight as it was a while ago, Percy can feel a tingling sensation in that particular area of his forearm.

And he doesn't notice, but it's going up his _whole _arm.

He looks surprised at his wrist. Was their some kind of bug in there or something? Percy tries to shake of the feeling and distracts himself more by looking over his shoulder, only to find that the two harpies have gone away to some other hunting location.

"Annabeth? Annabeth, you can–" Percy tries, his attempt is cut off by Annabeth's mutters and grumbles.

"So much for a good New Year's Eve." Annabeth mutters, her words creating noticeable wisps of air from her lips.

"Annabeth, you can let me go now." Percy says again, determined to make her let go of his arm, though the tingling sensation is getting a little bit satisfying to his content.

And that sort of scares him.

She looks back at him, question stirring in her stormy grey orbs. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah, sorry." she stutters. The iron grip on Percy's hand lets go and subconsciously, the small tingling feeling trails away from his arm in small bits, gradually leaving the son of Poseidon, without notice, wanting to feel more of the sensation Annabeth's mere contact always seems to give him.

He arches a brow at her, curious of her actions, and mutters _lowly _under his breath, "Well that's a first from Annabeth Chase."

Only beginning to set a foot on one of the steps on the short staircase, she looks back at him slowly, his little comment sinking into that high capacity brain of hers.

"What did you just _say_?" she demands of him, only to find the young hero of Olympus looking down at his sneakers, seemingly finding an interest in the aglets of the white laces on his emerald green converse.

With long, nimble fingers, he runs a hand through his dark locks of hair and looks up, his sea green eyes meeting Annabeth's stormy grey orbs.

Oh, he's in some _really _big trouble, now.

"Um, uh, I just–what I meant was that–no, what I meant to say was–"

The daughter of Athena shakes her head, no longer wanting an answer from her poor, clueless best _friend_ and dismisses the question with a wave of her hand. Her sneaker clad feet quietly step up the stairs and Percy follows, continuing to look down at his laces and shaking his head to himself.

"Dammit, Perce, you've _really _done it this time." he mumbles quietly under his breath. The boy gets to the door, only to find Annabeth staring intensely at the screen, her thoughts wandering elsewhere.

Eyebrows knit together in concentration, Annabeth grips the door knob and slowly turns it counter clockwise, pulling on it and walking inside. Percy walks in behind her, but his minor attempt results in failure when his body clashes in with Annabeth's.

He lifts his head up, sea green eyes swirling with curiosity, and finds a certain goddess present in front of them.

"And then there were three."

Lo and behold, Aphrodite is standing there, in the middle of the foyer, with a smug smile plastered to her beautiful, _glowing_ (no exaggeration intended) facial features.

Annabeth shifts her weight from her right foot to her left and crosses her arms over her chest, her expression defiant. "What are you–" her words are cut short when said Greek goddess of love points a long, red nail polished finger towards the upper rim of the doorway.

Percy looks to the direction of Aphrodite's finger and almost chokes on the winter air surrounding them.

Up there, hanging by a long gold, glittering thread, is one of Percy's worst fears.

A mistletoe.

Mistletoe.

A _freaking _mistletoe.

Who knew the almighty hero of Olympus would be scared of a _mistletoe_?

But it's hanging there, in all it's glory.

What makes it worse? It's _glowing. _

Aphrodite's smug grin stretches into a broad, toothy smile, the small action gracing her already complimented features. This goddess already knows what's coming next.

Of course, Annabeth would question this. "It's not even Christmas anymore." she says matter-of-factly. And it's true, Christmas past 6 days ago, making this what day?

That's right, New Year's Eve.

"I guess Chiron forgot one." Aphrodite says gingerly, knowing better than any other demigod (other than Percy Jackson, of course) to _never _set a daughter of Athena off.

Now, if you look at it from where Aphrodite is standing, you can practically see both demigod's breaths forming wisps of white air from their lips.

Percy shifts around uncomfortably, already knowing Annabeth _will _start a debate, and moves back a step, reopening the door and looking out at the view.

It must be around 11:45 or something now because the _whole _Hepheastus and Hermes cabin are setting up fireworks and preparing the bonfire while the rest of the other cabins are hanging banners and tarpolines saying "HAPPY NEW YEAR! HOPE THE MONSTERS DON'T STEAL THE FOOD!" and "DRINK RESPONSIBLY! DON'T TEMPT MR. D INTO DRINKING WINE AND STUFF!" and lastly, there are lanterns and streamers hanging on the trees and cabins, lighting up the whole camp site.

Next thing the boy knows, Annabeth is looking at the sight before her as well, standing beside Percy with an unbelievable proximity.

"So, you gonna go along with tradition or what?" Aphrodite says, barging herself in the moment.

The two demigods look at each other expressionless, not knowing exactly what to feel and Annabeth faces her body towards his, Percy doing the same.

Curse the narrow doorway, because once Percy faces his _best _friend, crush, possible person he loves, and etcetera, the frame can't contain both of them and Annabeth's body is squished against his. Not that she's complaining.

Percy, who's looking down sheepishly at Annabeth, decides to break the silence. "So...?" he starts, not knowing what to say. Annabeth looks up at him, her grey orbs filled with an emotion Percy is _definitely _not familiar with, and she smiles.

"I know girls don't make the first move, but," she says, and Percy is about to question her, but he's startled by the greatest thing he's ever experienced.

Annabeth's lips are pressed to his, and his hands are around her waist, keeping her closer to him than she already is. To add to this Aphrodite worthy moment, Travis and Connor decided to light up the fire crackers, making the goddess' view of the couple before her even _more _magical than it already is.

However, the only fireworks these two are feeling right now, are the ones in their guts urging them to continue their little antics, just until the year ends.

Percy pulls his lips apart from hers and looks at her lovingly. "You know, I've always wanted to do that, but I never expected _you _to be the one to make the first move." he says quietly, relishing himself in the moment.

She gives him a smile, one that he will always want to see for the rest of his life, and she mutters those three words that would highlight the year.

"Happy New Year." she says, a grin complimenting her lips.

"Happy New Year." Percy replies, content with having the girl he loves wrapped under his arm.

They watch the fireworks, and they can practically feel those sparks flying inside of them, making it one of the best New Year's celebrations they've ever had.

And they don't even need those _other _three words to tell each other how they really feel.

_The End_

_Happy New Year to all of you and have a great 2013!_


End file.
